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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29425644">How Not To Take All Your Toys And Go Home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan'>tielan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:09:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>822</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29425644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria's not sure she could talk to Steve or Tony without yelling at them. Natasha wouldn’t pick up in the first place, and Clint has a family to get out of sight. Wilson, Wanda, and Vision aren’t the decision makers in their groups, and Maria may be an arrogant bitch, but she knows better than to take the King of Wakanda to task.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Maria Hill &amp; James "Rhodey" Rhodes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chocolate Box - Round 6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>How Not To Take All Your Toys And Go Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyNotScott/gifts">DefinitelyNotScott</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western">Maria calls Rhodey first because his body might be in recovery; the tactical sharps of his brain is not.</p>
<p class="western">Also, she’s not sure she could talk to Steve or Tony without yelling at them, Natasha wouldn’t pick up in the first place, and Clint has a family to get out of sight. Wilson, Wanda, and Vision aren’t the decision makers in their groups, and Maria may be an arrogant bitch, but she knows better than to take the King of Wakanda to task.</p>
<p class="western">Subsistence farming, her ass.</p>
<p class="western">“This is Rhodes.”</p>
<p class="western">“How’s the rehab?”</p>
<p class="western">“I’ve had worse. Wait, no, I haven’t.” He sighs. “It’s hell. I keep reminding myself it could be worse…but it’s still hell. I guess you’ve seen the medical reports?”</p>
<p class="western">She was a little surprised her old Stark Industries access still worked. After Ultron, she wouldn’t have been entirely surprised to find that Tony had locked her out of the system. He wasn’t an unreasonable man; he just had a fairly simple view of loyalty. Not surprising, given Obadiah Stane, but still.</p>
<p class="western">She was even more surprised that her standard Avengers access worked as well. Not that she and Steve had quarrelled over the Avengers, but she had kind of left without saying anything, and, well, there was a reason Steve and Tony butted heads so often. They were different enough to grate, and similar enough to abrade.</p>
<p class="western">“I took a look, yes. I also took a look at what Tony’s putting you into.”</p>
<p class="western">“Which is why rehab is hell. Although still better than the alternative.”</p>
<p class="western">“A million times.”</p>
<p class="western">They understand each other very well, she and Rhodey. Military and ex-military, with the familiarity of injury and pain and the way the machine works you until you’re done and then spits you out.</p>
<p class="western">Joining the Avengers was a chance for Rhodey to do something that would be appreciated. Maria understands that.</p>
<p class="western">“How’ve you been?”</p>
<p class="western">“I’ve been better.”</p>
<p class="western">Maybe something in the tone of her voice gives her away, because Rhodey pauses before asking, “Personally better or professionally better?”</p>
<p class="western">“Oh, professionally, of course.” She’s not going to talk about the personal, because there are some things that she’s deliberately kept from the Avengers, and she’s not willing to give them up. Not yet, anyway.</p>
<p class="western">“Is this the part where you ask what we were thinking?”</p>
<p class="western">“No.” Maria’s pretty sure she can already guess what Steve and Tony were thinking. “It’s the part where I ask your thoughts on what happens next.”</p>
<p class="western">“Well, we’ve signed the Accords – enough of us that we’re bound to it. But...I tell you, Hill, I don’t like the way things are trending.”</p>
<p class="western">“But you won’t think about getting out.”</p>
<p class="western">“I can’t leave Tony – no more than you can leave Fury.”</p>
<p class="western">Yes, they understand each other very well.</p>
<p class="western">Maria sighs. “Have you spoken to Pepper?”</p>
<p class="western">“She sends me messages now and then. You?”</p>
<p class="western">“We’re talking. At least weekly.” For two ball-busting bitches, she and Pepper got along really well, and once Avengers operations moved out of Stark Tower, Maria really missed that. “She’s hurting, Rhodey.”</p>
<p class="western">“So’s Tony.” Rhodey sighs. “Look, I’ve watched them do this dance for years. I don’t think they know how to do anything else anymore.”</p>
<p class="western">“It’s a mess, is what it is.”</p>
<p class="western">“You’ll get no disagreement from me. But it’s still their mess.” Rhodey exhales huffily on the other end of the phone and then makes a noise of pain.</p>
<p class="western">“Rhodey?”</p>
<p class="western">“I’m fine,” he says, which is no more than Maria expected, but irritating all the same. But Rhodey neatly heads her off with, “What are you doing tomorrow?”</p>
<p class="western">“Tomorrow?”</p>
<p class="western">“I need to work out protocols with someone who has an idea of how these things actually work. I was thinking to do it with Nat, but since she let Cap go, it seems Ross has her in his sights.”</p>
<p class="western">Well, it was something she planned to do anyway, and it’s not like coming a distant second behind Natasha is an unfamiliar experience for her.</p>
<p class="western">“I can do security protocols,” she tells him. “1000 hours?”</p>
<p class="western">“1000 hours is good.” There’s a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line, like he’s thinking something over. “Do you know where the others have gone?”</p>
<p class="western">Maria hesitates over telling him, because that knowledge will make her a target. And Rhodey abruptly realises that, because he adds, “No, actually, don’t tell me if you do or don’t.”</p>
<p class="western">“I don’t, actually,” she says, for the benefit of anyone who might be listening. And because covering her ass is a thing, even if she’s no longer beholden to anyone but Fury – and even that’s informal rather than not.</p>
<p class="western">“All right. I’ll see you then.”</p>
<p class="western">“Take care, Rhodey.”</p>
<p class="western">“You too, Maria.”</p>
<p class="western">It’s not the world security that Maria wanted – certainly not the world security that Fury hoped for. But it’s what she has to work with, and it’ll have to be enough.</p>
<p class="western">At least for now.</p>
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